How did women in ancient times prevent pregnancy?

The idea of ​​contraception has a long history. Sexual intercourse is natural and is also for satisfying normal physiological needs. However, once the sperm and egg combine, pregnancy will occur. Sometimes, when a family is not well-off and cannot afford to raise too many children, or when unmarried men and women have sex, they need to take contraceptive measures to avoid trouble. So how did women in ancient times prevent pregnancy?

Drink abortion pills. A long, long time ago, when humans were still primitive, men and women were figuring out how to control birth. The methods they use are extremely dangerous and very likely to be ineffective. It is not difficult to find that with the development of civilization, various methods of contraception have emerged.

The Toronto Contraceptive Museum houses more than 600 contraceptive tools from the past, making it the largest contraceptive museum in the world. However, according to Pietra Godhead, head of the museum's department, many of the contraceptive tools invented by ancient people were not all effective. Some were even harmful to the human body and had fatal consequences.

However, there are several contraceptive methods invented by ancient people that have apparently proven to be very effective. For example, on a 3,500-year-old Egyptian papyrus, there is an ancient contraceptive prescription written in Egyptian hieroglyphics. The prescription states that a wool ball soaked in gum arabic, coconut and honey and inserted into a woman's body can prevent pregnancy. Although this recipe is so old, experiments have shown it to be very effective. "Because gum arabic contains lactic acid, it is a natural spermicide," Goldheide said.

Ancient India: Animal feces as a contraceptive. In addition, in India and Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, the feces of animals such as crocodiles and elephants, which were believed to have mysterious powers, were also used in contraceptive prescriptions. In fact, because these animal feces are highly acidic, they do have a certain spermicidal effect. However, Godheide said that the strong smell of animal feces would obviously affect the "sexual interest" of ancient couples.

I believe everyone has an idea of ​​how women in ancient times used to prevent pregnancy. Now it seems that some of the contraceptive methods in ancient times are still incredible and even unacceptable. These seemingly ridiculous or extremely cruel contraceptive measures not only threaten human health, but also have poor contraceptive effects.